Benjamin Hannam, a Met Police officer has been dismissed after being convicted of Neo-Nazi terror offences.

The Met Police Assistant Commissioner said Hannam had “harmed public confidence” in policing, which was already under tight scrutiny over corruption, police brutality and racism.

Questions have been raised however as to why Hannam was kept on as a serving police officer until 3 weeks after his conviction.
Benjamin Hannam, a member of the National Action extremist group, became the first ever serving British police officer to be convicted of a terror offence on 1 April 2021.

The 22-year-old applied to join the Metropolitan Police in July 2017 and started on 26 March 2018.

He passed vetting checks, completed training and was a constable in an emergency response team by the time of his arrest on 5 March 2020.

Hannam was only exposed as a member of National Action after leaked data surfaced from the fascist Iron March forum.

A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said the process of dismissal took three weeks and “could not have happened faster” because of regulations that meant it could not be started until Hannam was actually convicted.

He then had to be served documents and given a minimum time to respond before the hearing.

Assistant Commissioner Helen Ball said he had “harmed public confidence” in policing and the already low reputation of the Metropolitan Police.

He was convicted of membership of a terrorist organisation and it’s successor group after the terror cell was shut down, and also admitted the sex offence of possessing a prohibited image of a child.

The constable, from Edmonton in London, was also convicted of two counts of possessing information useful to a terrorist – the 2011 Norway attacker Anders Behring Breivik’s manifesto and a “knife combat” document.

Hannam was further found guilty of two counts of fraud for lying on police application and vetting forms.

They asked recruits if they are, or have ever been, members of the British National Party (BNP) or a similar organisation “whose aims, objectives or pronouncements may contradict the duty to promote race equality”.

He then took part in activities by its successor group NS131, which was an alias used to evade the prohibition until it was also banned.

His trial heard he travelled to National Action meetings with senior members, including the group’s co-founder, attending its 2016 conference, boxing camps and graffiti events.

Hannam appeared in a promotional video for NS131 and in a photograph alongside other members, in front of a National Action flag.

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